fill the void by repeating phrases. repeating phrases to make it so. repeating phrases to get it right. tonight would be a perfect night to be the boston strangler. tonight would be a perfect night to cauterize the moon. when the stars are mist. when the epilogue is mine. when scaffolding fits like letters. when letters silt on the river’s clavicle. how bone bends in bowed detours, like pine needle wishes, like love and credits roll. a slurry of dreaming. Something is always missing. like etiquette and decency. a magnetic field of action. a feeling of forgiveness. a forgery in foggy elegies. someone else is always what’s missing. someone else is always sifting. sifting skin in tight grasps. the skin of everything. flaking light. let tonight be perfect on its own. let tonight’s tongue flick streetlight filaments. let the letters sit in hands, combing through hair. how soft and rigid everything is when you want it to be.

Image: Photo by Kevin Sarduy, via Unsplash.